Preview — Jump Start Git
by Shaumik Daityari

Jump Start Git

Most engineers we meet prefer Git over other distributed version control systems.

These systems let you store different versions of project files and directories, so you can roll back to an earlier one if something goes wrong. And since they're distributed, they smooth the path for dev team collaboration.

But what is it abou

Get a Jump Start on version control with Git today!

Most engineers we meet prefer Git over other distributed version control systems.

These systems let you store different versions of project files and directories, so you can roll back to an earlier one if something goes wrong. And since they're distributed, they smooth the path for dev team collaboration.

But what is it about Git that makes it mission-critical on so many web projects?

Spend just one weekend with this hands-on tutorial, and you'll know the answer.

Understand Git's core philosophy.
Get started with Git: install it, learn the basic commands, and set up your first project.
Work with Git as part of a collaborative team.
Use Git's debugging tools for maximum debug efficiency.
Take control with Git's advanced features: reflog, rebase, stash, and more.
Use Git with cloud-based Git repository host services like Github and Bitbucket.
See how Git's used effectively on large open-source projects.

Git was created by Linus Torvalds, who invented Linux, so it comes with the best credentials. What are you waiting for? Get a jump start on Git today.

Community Reviews

The author has gone a little bit beyond Jump Starting to Git in the last of the chapters where he briefs about refs, reflogs, fsck, etc. The author has also given instances from the real world where a few git commands come handy. All these are important in setting the context of how Git helps in the real world. This book can always serve as a quick reference guide in the everyday usage of Git. Nice job!

I already know git, but my command-line skills were a little rusty, so I read this to refresh my memory. This is a good book for a beginner, or as a quick refresher. There are a lot of books about git, and I'm not sure this one is any better than the others, but it's good.

We know that there are countless Git resources, Github and Atlassian having the most quality ones. However Sitepoint have a talent for making short, concise and very graphical books.

There are also specialized Git team books as Git for teams, but Jump Start Git is just the right one for someone trying to get into Git and quickly becoming a part of a Git-powered team.

As most Sitepoint books, Jump Start Git also has a perfect amount ofThe intro / advanced book that I needed when I was learning Git.

We know that there are countless Git resources, Github and Atlassian having the most quality ones. However Sitepoint have a talent for making short, concise and very graphical books.

There are also specialized Git team books as Git for teams, but Jump Start Git is just the right one for someone trying to get into Git and quickly becoming a part of a Git-powered team.

As most Sitepoint books, Jump Start Git also has a perfect amount of graphics and text. Understanding what Git does at merges, rebases, commits and workflow as a whole is extremely easy.

The most important chapters are "Correcting Errors while Working with Git" and "Unlocking Git's Full Potential". `git bisect`, `git log --follow filename`, `git reflog` and `git cherry-pick` are in my opinion the most underused commands.

At last there's the extra chapter Git GUI tools that's there just for having a little bit of fanciness in your Git usage. There's nothing in-depth or advanced in that chapter but it's there for people that want to research.

The Conclusion chapter is relatively short and a statistics mostly, but there's one section that's a must-read - "Could Git fall?". It raises a valid question whether Git scales for Facebook-size organizations. But it's safe to say that Git will stay relevant for years to come when you have a small-medium sized team. However the 'Beyond Source Code Management' has one little thing that just doesn't stand right with me - keeping databases in source control. The particular example was dumping a MySQL database. That's a bad idea in every possible way and it's a sure-way in making your repository a big bloat. Just don't do that, make DB backups and rotate them....more

I had experience with the VCS but wanted to see if this would offer anything new. Was happy to see that the middle sections of the book cover advanced usage, such as undoing actions, managing conflicts and revising the history of a repository, with diagrams to explain the difference between most common actions.

While the last section--GUI options for Git--offers some basic tips, would have been nice to see a bit deeper dive or maybe a fewThis book is a great primer on the main functions of Git.

I had experience with the VCS but wanted to see if this would offer anything new. Was happy to see that the middle sections of the book cover advanced usage, such as undoing actions, managing conflicts and revising the history of a repository, with diagrams to explain the difference between most common actions.

While the last section--GUI options for Git--offers some basic tips, would have been nice to see a bit deeper dive or maybe a few more GUI options.

Overall, a quick way to get up to speed with Git. If you read along with a terminal open nearby to try commands, should be enough for anyone to get comfortable with adding version control to their workflow!...more